Aerial view of the new subway line (elevated) heading out of Tysons Corner toward Dulles airport
Welcome back for another journal entry for me. I don’t have any shocking news or story to share—just an update.
I took my fourth CPA exam today, and what a relief to be done with that for the time being. I failed at least one of them, though, so I’ll be at it again in October. For now I am free.
I’m settling in a bit more in Virginia. I’m also finding out more about the place. When I told people who had lived here where I was moving the typical response was “oh, you’re going to the rich area.” I didn’t know but I’ve been getting suspicious that maybe they were right. Tonight I looked up the median income for the town and county and it’s at the very top of the list of highest income locales in the entire US. See the list here. I guess that partly explains why everything is expensive. The little village of Falls Church is my go-to location for meals, homework/study, and running in the evening. I’m already eyeing housing there for when my lease is up.
Aerial view of the new subway line (elevated) heading out of Tysons Corner toward Dulles airport
Earlier aerial of Tysons in the distance
I love my apartment, though. It’s small and accessible from a spaghetti tangle of roads, freeways, and subway lines. Parking is awesome with an underground garage, and grocery stores, shopping malls, and other stores (albeit upscale) are a close walk away.
The subway station should be open in a few months making this a pretty attractive location. I like Falls Church because it has more restaurants in my price range, and it has awesome running trails right in town. It’s more suited for walking in evenings as opposed to BMW’ing between mall parking garages in Tysons Corner.
Tysons Galleria (the smaller mall)
Tysons Center (the larger mall)
Tysons at night
I got sidetracked with looking up pictures on the Internet.. sorry. Another accomplishment—finding a reputable barber. After extensive online research I found a barber and visited him (in addition, I walked by several times before visiting to get a feel for his style, clients, and “culture”). I was very happy with the service and am pretty sure I’ll be a repeat customer. He does a real scissor cut, straight razor trims, and does a hot towel cleanup afterwards that is just heavenly. Very happy with this barber. I’m hesitant to even share his name because I don’t want the place to become jammed.
A friend is visiting from Arizona next week, beginning Monday and staying for a week. We have a lot of stuff planned with trips to Baltimore (I’m showing her what a real ghetto is) for fresh crabs, several days in New York City, and of course all the local stuff in DC, Virginia, and Maryland.
The following week I start work, finally. Crazy that I first applied and was accepted to the first round of recruiting for this job back in March 2010. More than two and a half years later I finally start work.
Since moving here my Saturday routine has been to take the subway into the city (free parking on weekends) for an evening run (running on the Mall, across Memorial Bridge, or around the Tidal Basin is waayyy cool), rambling, or a performance. The Kennedy Center holds free performances EVERY DAY and this is awesome! Most of them are smallish jazz, classical, or theatricals which I love. Tonight’s production was a concert by Blessing Offor, a soul/R&B singer-songwriter. His music reminded me of Piano Guys, who I also like. The audience is very refined compared to, say, that of a rock concert.
Oh, another find—kabobs that melt in my mouth. I’m hooked on Lebanese laffa bread sandwiches with roti meat or falafel and hummus along with the perfect blend of cabbage, cucumbers, and tomatoes. So good, and there are an abundance of restaurants around here.
I should have stopped a long time ago as this post is getting long and doesn’t contain content of general interest… Oh, well, Good night all.